Oct. 26, 2018
08:08 am JST

Oct. 26, 2018
08:36 am JST

The real number is far higher than that. School is not a happy place for many students - especially junior high. One of the main problems is that teachers do not call out bad behavior early on, they will literally ignore something right in front of them and pretend it's a 'joke' (haha), when there clearly should have been words calling out bad behavior.

If a student complains about another student/s' behavior, in true Japanese style the victim will often, paradoxically, be singled out themselves as 'the problem'.

Of course, the pendulum might suddenly swing as Yubaru says, and the teacher might go postal at times. No early guidance, no balance.

I have seen kids sobbing through almost an entire lesson after something happened to them, only to be completely ignored by the teacher - on more than one occasion. When I asked the teacher why didn't they didn't help that kid out, the answer was that they 'didn't know'. Funny, because the entire class knew...

Oct. 26, 2018
08:56 am JST

Oct. 26, 2018
09:23 am JST

It's a cultural epidemic. Where does the buck stop? At the top of every organization, small and big, NGO and corporate, education, and...ooh, heaven forbid, home. Sometimes I think it's the genes. But, in reality, it's about growing up, not old, and not worrying about being cut from the same cloth. Individualism begets wisdom.

Oct. 26, 2018
09:31 am JST

Oct. 26, 2018
10:01 am JST

while 10 of the 250 students who committed suicide during the reporting year had been bullied at school...

Again, this number is so far under-reported and the problem glazed over that it's beyond belief! This snippet below taken from an article that I will link to.

"Since 2014, suicide has become Japan’s leading cause of death in children aged 10-19..."

Just stop and take that in for a minute.

There are some acute problems affecting Japan's youth and most of this stems from the culture and experiences at schools. Needless to say, the attitudes formed and traumas suffered as a child then extend into adult life. But with a culture that looks the other way and refuses to face these massive and ever-growing problems, or even talk about them, what hope is there for society in general?

Those efforts are instead placed into maintaining Japan's facade to the outside world. Photo-ops, propaganda, tatemae and the "shouganai" and apologist attitudes.

Oct. 26, 2018
11:15 am JST

Oct. 26, 2018
11:26 am JST

Teachers, who are in the best position to know about it, either do nothing or contribute to the problem by bullying themselves. And the bullies themselves know the chances of getting caught are minimal, and of being disciplined for it even less. Alas, because of the culture of "gammon," it's ingrained behavior in Japan and may never be entirely eradicated.

Oct. 26, 2018
04:12 pm JST

Bullying is part of the fabric of Japanese culture... it goes on in school and the workplace, and happens to people that are viewed as weak or who don't conform to the silly cultural rules that permeate every single aspect of Japanese life. No wonder the government take no action, its part and parcel of life here.